May, 09, 2014
Clients frequently ask me to assess their chances for MBA admission. They want to know how they compare with their competition. They want to know how to beat their competition. This is an extremely reasonable request. After all, admission to top MBA programs or other competitive graduate programs is a zero sum game: You get […]
May, 07, 2014
Amongst the many different types of clients I work with, applicants whose careers and/or future goals are related to their family businesses have special advantages and challenges. My family business clients have come from very diverse backgrounds. I have had applicants whose families controlled businesses that were quite small, $1 million or less in annual sales, […]
Apr, 29, 2014
One marketing gimmick, used the world over, is tell potential customers/applicants/survey test takers how easy it is to complete an application for whatever. I can’t prove that the Business School Admissions offices that I mention in this post had car insurance ads or membership card applications or “Please Take this Survey” requests in mind when […]
Jan, 12, 2014
In this post I provide advice for HBS Admissions Interviews for the MBA Class of 2016. HBS ADCOM HQ I did not revise my HBS interview post for Round 1 applicants, but that did not stop six of my clients from being admitted to HBS in R1 for the Class of 2016. You can […]
Jan, 11, 2014
When is the time to start interview preparation? Ideally, at least a month before you are likely to be interviewed. If you apply to Columbia, that means starting pretty much soon after you press the submit button. If know you will be having an open interview for Duke, Kellogg or Tuck, it means start prepping […]
Jun, 17, 2013
My former client, HBS 2014, provides great insight and strong opinions to this Q&A. HBS2014 says about himself: “I am an international student in the HBS Class of 2014. After spending two years in Asia to finish my studies as an engineer, I started working as a consultant in Europe. I decided to apply for […]
May, 30, 2013
Dee Leopold just announced (30 May 2013) the full application deadlines and key application components on the From the Admissions Director blog. I will post my full analysis of the entire application after its release, but I wanted to provide an immediate reaction to what is a dramatic change: This is the only “essay” […]
May, 21, 2013
This is the second of a three part series of posts on the overal topic of “Do you really need an MBA?” In the first post in this series, I discussed that overall question directly. I suggest reading that post, “Do You Really an MBA,” before proceeding to the post below. What Kind of MBA […]
Apr, 02, 2013
“HBS2014” was kind enough to answer my questions. HBS2014 is a former client and a member of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2014. HBS2014 is Asian and in his early 30s. ———————————————————————————————————————– Adam: How hard has the first year at HBS been for you? HBS2014: The day-to-day work is not […]
Jan, 12, 2013
In this post I discuss MBA rejection, but for my less philosophical, but more practical advice on reapplication, please see A guide to my resources for reapplicants. While focused mostly on MBA rejection, what I write here applies to rejection from any graduate program or perhaps rejection of any kind. In a much earlier post, I […]
